Professional extractor Jeremy Johnson removes shatter, a type of marijuana concentrate, from the oven at Mahatma Concentrates in Denver on May 1, 2014. (Brennan Linsley, Associated Press file)

Extracts company Mahatma to start testing pot for pesticides

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By David Migoya and Ricardo Baca, The Denver Post

After Denver Post lab tests last week found residual amounts of non-approved pesticide chemicals in concentrated marijuana products made by Mahatma Concentrates, the Denver company has started to test the cannabis it takes in from other pot companies, according to Mahatma leadership.

“We have embarked on a new direction in light of us being in the middle of trim/source material that we purchase and trim/source material we process for hundreds of clients throughout the state of Colorado,” Mahatma co-founder Brett Mouser said via text message on Tuesday evening.

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The company — which creates potent extracts from marijuana grown by itself and other 300-plus companies — started testing all of the cannabis it takes in from clients on Sept. 9 “to ensure what is within our control is tested, and if testing fails due to ‘non-approved pesticides,’ we will not process, period,” Mouser said.

State law requires cannabis businesses to test for pesticide residues, but those mandatory tests have yet to be implemented since its passage in 2013. While at least two marijuana testing labs in Colorado offer tests for pesticides, no labs have yet been certified by the state for such tests — though the state has certified labs to test for residual solvents, potency and homogeneity and microbial contaminants such as mold.

Mahatma first announced the news on its Instagram: “As of September 9th 2015, 100% of trim/source material is now tested for non-approved pesticides.”

Both of Mahatma’s concentrates that tested positive for non-approved pesticides were made with marijuana grown by Treatments Unlimited, which operates the Altitude shops in Denver, paperwork shows.

This story was first published on DenverPost.com